Trail Blazers coach Mika Nori had a private conversation with Scoot Henderson before Saturday’s game against San Antonio, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic (free link). Henderson became the starting point guard last week Ja Morant was retired from a left hamstring injurybut he has struggled since taking on the role.
“I believe in Scoot, we believe in Scoot” – said Nori at the pregame meeting with the media. “I had a good conversation before I came here. For 82 games, everyone is going to struggle … they just struggle. Now his struggle starts at the beginning. So my job as a coach is to help him, to give him the opportunity to reduce those difficulties, because we know that he is very, very capable.”
Portland has a 3-1 record in Henderson’s starts, but he hasn’t done much to contribute to that mark. In those four games, he has four assists and 11 turnovers, shooting 28.6% from the field. In Friday’s loss to the Lakers, he finished with two points, no assists and five turnovers in 23 minutes.
“I still feel like he’s maybe putting too much on himself.” – said Nori. “Basically, just going back to keeping it simple, plug in on defense, get more involved on the offensive glass, defensive glass, and then when you come out, run. Then make an easy play.”
There’s more from Portland:
- Marant received encouraging news regarding his hamstring during an exam Friday in Los Angeles, according to Quick in a separate story. “It looks like he will be able to — without putting a time frame on it — but it may not be as broad as we thought, which would be positive.” – said Nori. “But again, I don’t know if it’s going to be four weeks, six weeks, whatever. But I’m hoping it’s going to be the short end of the forecast.”
- Robert Williams made a failed attempt to retrieve the game ball on Friday Jrue’s holidaywho moved into the top 100 in career scoring, Quick adds another piece. However, a Lakers official intervened and said the ball should be handed over to the NBA. Williams acknowledged the strategy error, saying “I was taught that as soon as you get the ball, just run to the locker room.”
- Nori believes that the presence of “dedicated guys” contributed to the unexpected start of the team, pro Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (subscriber link). Share the ball since training camp opened. “I just told them,” nori said “that every single person, somehow, somehow this year, if we’re going to be a successful basketball team, is going to have to sacrifice, whether it’s shots, whether it’s minutes, whatever. Because we have a lot of depth and a lot of talent, and that’s the only way it’s going to work. Sacrifices are not a bad thing. And actually, usually when you sacrifice and it leads to a win, everybody gets paid in the end in ten times because in this league they pay winners and they want winners on their team.”